# 薇

| 薇 | U+8587, &#34183; CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8587 |
| ← 薆 [U+8586] | CJK Unified Ideographs | 薈 → [U+8588] |

## Translingual
### Han character

薇 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+13, 19 strokes, cangjie input 廿竹人大 (THOK), four-corner 4424$_8$, composition ⿱艹微)

#### Derived characters

* 𫲛, 𧢤

#### References

* Kangxi Dictionary: page 1060, character 21
* Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32092
* Dae Jaweon: page 1524, character 9
* Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3303, character 12
* Unihan data for U+8587

## Chinese
### Glyph origin

| | Old Chinese |
| 矀 | *mrɯl, *mɯl |
| 覹 | *mrɯl |
| 黴 | *mrɯl, *mɯːls |
| 薇 | *mrɯl, *mɯl |
| 媺 | *mrɯlʔ |
| 微 | *mɯl |
| 溦 | *mɯl |
| 癓 | *mɯl |
| 徽 | *hmɯl |
| 幑 | *hmɯl |
Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *mrɯl, *mɯl) : semantic 艸 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 微 (OC *mɯl).

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): wēi, wéi
    (Zhuyin): ㄨㄟ, ㄨㄟˊ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): mei$^4$
* Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bî
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese, Mainland)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: wēi
*** Zhuyin: ㄨㄟ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: wei
*** Wade–Giles: wei$^1$
*** Yale: wēi
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: uei
*** Palladius: вэй (vɛj)
*** Sinological IPA : /weɪ̯⁵⁵/
** (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: wéi
*** Zhuyin: ㄨㄟˊ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: wéi
*** Wade–Giles: wei$^2$
*** Yale: wéi
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wei
*** Palladius: вэй (vɛj)
*** Sinological IPA : /weɪ̯³⁵/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: mei$^4$
*** Yale: mèih
*** Cantonese Pinyin: mei$^4$
*** Guangdong Romanization: méi$^4$
*** Sinological IPA : /mei̯²¹/
* Southern Min
** (Hokkien)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bî
*** Tâi-lô: bî
*** Phofsit Daibuun: bii
*** IPA (Xiamen): /bi²⁴/
*** IPA (Quanzhou): /bi²⁴/
*** IPA (Zhangzhou): /bi¹³/
*** IPA (Taipei): /bi²⁴/
*** IPA (Kaohsiung): /bi²³/
* Middle Chinese: mij, mj+j
Rime :
| Character | 薇 | 薇 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 2/2 |
| Initial (聲) | 明 (4) | 明 (4) |
| Final (韻) | 脂 (17) | 微 (21) |
| Tone (調) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) |
| Openness (開合) | Open | Closed |
| Division (等) | III | III |
| Fanqie | 武悲切 | 無非切 |
| Baxter | mij | mj+j |
| Reconstructions |||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /mˠiɪ/ | /mʉi/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /mᵚi/ | /mʷɨi/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /miɪ/ | /miuəi/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /mji/ | /muj/ |
| Li Rong | /mji/ | /miuəi/ |
| Wang Li | /mi/ | /mĭwəi/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /mi/ | /mwe̯i/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | mí | wéi |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | mei$^4$ | mei$^4$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Zhengzhang): /*mrɯl/, /*mɯl/
Zhengzhang system (2003) :
| Character | 薇 | 薇 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 2/2 |
| No. | 12798 | 12803 |
| Phonetic component | 微 | 微 |
| Rime group | 微 | 微 |
| Rime subdivision | 1 | 1 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 眉 | 微 |
| Old Chinese | /*mrɯl/ | /*mɯl/ |

### Definitions

薇
* Osmunda regalis, a species of fern (also known as royal fern or flowering fern)
    From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11th – 7th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
    Zhì bǐ nánshān, yán cǎi qí wēi. [Pinyin]
    I ascended that hill in the south, and gathered the royal ferns.
* Used in 薔薇／蔷薇 (qiángwēi, “multiflora rose”).

#### See also

* 蕨 (jué, “bracken, eagle fern”)

#### Compounds

* 採薇 / 采薇 (cǎiwéi)
* 白薇 (báiwēi)
* 紫薇 (zǐwēi)
* 菲薇
* 薇蕨
* 薔薇 / 蔷薇 (qiángwēi)
* 薔薇戰爭 / 蔷薇战争
* 薔薇硝 / 蔷薇硝
* 薔薇科 / 蔷薇科
* 薔薇露 / 蔷薇露
* 采薇 (cǎiwéi)
* 野薔薇 / 野蔷薇

## Japanese
### Kanji

(Hyōgai kanji)

#### Readings

* Go-on: み (mi)
* Kan-on: び (bi)
* Kun: ぜんまい (zenmai, 薇)

#### Compounds

* 薔薇(ばら) (bara): rose

### Etymology

* Kanji in this term
* 薇
* ぜんまい Hyōgai
* kun'yomi
* Alternative spellings
* 紫萁 (uncommon) 狗脊 (rare)
Uncertain. Theories include:
* Shift from 銭舞 (zeni mai, literally “coin + twirling / spinning”), from the way the fiddleheads look like rotating or twirling coins
* Shift from 銭巻き (zeni maki, literally “coin + roll”), from the way the coil of a fiddlehead with the hole in the center looks like a traditional coin (which also has a hole in the center)
* Shift from 千巻き (sen maki, literally “thousand + roll”), from the way the repeating pattern of the fiddleheads look like a lot of small things in a roll
The "roll" derivation would align with the derivation of synonym 巻子 (makago).
First attested in 1709.

### Pronunciation

* (Tokyo) ぜんまい [zèńmáí] (Heiban – [0])
* IPA: [d͡zẽ̞mːa̠i]

### Noun

薇(ぜんまい) or 薇(ゼンマイ) • (zenmai)
* [from 1709] Japanese flowering fern (Osmunda japonica), of which the young fiddleheads are edible

#### Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ゼンマイ.

#### Derived terms

* 発条・撥条 (zenmai, “clockwork spring”, from the visual similarity to a coiled fern fiddlehead)

### References

* ↑ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
* ↑ “薇・紫萁・狗脊”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
* ↑ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

### Further reading

* Entry at Nihon Jiten (in Japanese)

## Korean
### Etymology

From Middle Chinese 薇 (MC mij). Recorded as Middle Korean 미 (mi) (Yale: mi) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

### Hanja

Wikisource 薇 (eumhun 장미 미 (jangmi mi)) 薇 (eumhun 고비 미 (gobi mi))
* hanja form of 미 (“rose”)
* hanja form of 미 (“Osmunda japonica”)

#### Compounds

* 장미 (薔薇, jangmi)
* 장미색 (薔薇色, jangmisaek)

### References

* 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

## Vietnamese
### Han character

薇: Hán Nôm readings: vi
* This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.